


Better Than Reality

by the-insomniac-emporium (van_daalen)



Category: Far Cry 5
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, F/F, Implied/Referenced Drug Use
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-09
Updated: 2019-01-09
Packaged: 2019-10-07 03:38:55
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,711
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17358224
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/van_daalen/pseuds/the-insomniac-emporium
Summary: "Welcome to the Bliss, Deputy," Faith said, hoping her voice would draw Rook closer to her (and further from the edge). Rook slowly turned around, facing the youngest herald, a wariness in her expression. Everything about her posture screamed "deer in the headlights", from the tensed shoulders to the panicked eyes. Yet she didn't flee."The Bliss fucking sucks," was Rook's only reply.---(A Bliss-resistant Deputy finally gets a full dose of the flower, and has a not-so-chance encounter with the one responsible.)





	Better Than Reality

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on my tumblr, the-insomniac-emporium.

The Bliss never affected her the way it did the others. While her comrades-in-arms were reduced to messes, plagued by endless hallucinations and questionable euphoria, the Junior Deputy just found herself a little dizzy. For the most part, that is. In strong enough concentrations, Bliss could make her vision blur around the edges, as well as (eventually) knock her out. Still, Rook was rather pleased with her “near-immunity”.

Faith, on the other hand, was merely…  _ perplexed _ . There were ways to lessen the effects of the drug, of course, but there was no way that Rook had access to any sort of “antidote”. The only explanation seemed to be that she simply had a natural resistance to Bliss. That fact alone made the Deputy worth studying; if you asked Faith, that is. She was already determined to bring Rook in, for the Father’s sake, but her heart longed to study her, to  _ understand _ her.

Unbeknownst to Rook, Faith was dedicating hours upon hours to developing new strains of Bliss, all in the hopes of creating one capable of subduing her. Every couple days or so she’d send out her Angels to test out her newest creations. For two weeks she struggled, waiting for the results, and always ending up disappointed. But she refused to give up- not when the Father was counting on her (not when there was a chance her life depended on it).

In the end, her patience paid off… just not in the way she had been expecting.

* * *

She had already been in the area when she got the call. They- her Chosen- had radioed in, letting her know that the Deputy was wandering aimlessly, spouting nonsense at nonexistent objects. No words could possibly describe the rush she had felt upon hearing the news. At last, she could draw Rook into her web. At last, she could  _ sit _ with the elusive woman,  _ talk _ with her, and see exactly what makes her tick.

If Rook didn't accidentally fall off a cliff first, that is. By the time Faith reached her, the young Deputy had entered a nearly full-blown panic, and was stumbling dangerously close to a cliffside. There was a wild look in her eyes, and she seemed to shake with every step. Evidently the Bliss was only doing half of what it was supposed to. Otherwise, she would be relaxed, lethargic even.

Wanting to prevent a disaster, Faith moved to intervene.

“Welcome to the Bliss, Deputy,” she said, hoping her voice would draw Rook closer to her (and further from the edge). At first Rook merely froze up, as if waiting for a fake-Faith to appear in front of her. But when none did, she slowly turned around, at last facing the youngest herald. There was a wariness in her expression. Everything about her posture screamed “deer in the headlights”, from the tensed shoulders to the panicked eyes. Yet she didn’t flee; ‘twas enough to make Faith grin. “It’s alright, Deputy. You’re safe here. You can be  _ happy _ here, just embrace the peace,” she said, extending her arms as she did, as if asking the Deputy to embrace  _ her _ .

“The Bliss fucking sucks,” was all Rook replied with; for the moment, that is. She glanced around once more, eying her surroundings suspiciously, preparing herself for some sort of ambush. Even when she turned her gaze back to Faith, it was clear that the Deputy was ready to run at a moment's notice. “Don't tell me you actually  _ like _ this shit. Nothing peaceful about hallucinations and blurry visions,” she added, a scowl ruining her otherwise grand visage. The definitive nature of her statement, and the sureness with which she spoke it, was enough to make Faith falter… if only for a moment.

She let her smile slip, then transform into a quiet laugh. There was an edge to it, subtle yet jarring, the slight hint of something beyond sanity's reach. Unnerving, yet intriguing. 'Twas the laugh of a madwoman who knew a secret few did (and fewer still understood). If Joseph had seen the end of the world in reality, what had Faith seen in the Bliss? Had she seen something  _ more _ than the Deputy did? The idea made Rook pause, then shift awkwardly on her feet, before finally giving in to curiosity and plopping down onto the ground. Faith only smiled more.

“Alright,  _ Faith _ ,” the Deputy started to say, “I’m going to pretend, for a minute, that this is normal. That I trust you- maybe even think that you’re real. So… care to sit with me?” With that she gestured for Faith to join her, patting the grass next to her thigh. While the herald moved with a sense of caution, she certainly didn’t hesitate, and never let her smile fade. There was a gracefulness in her movements, and Rook couldn’t help but watch her closely. As soon as Faith was next to her, she couldn’t help but smile, a strange hint of  _ something _ in her chest. “You know… out of the whole Seed ‘family’, you irritate me the least.”

“Was that supposed to be a… compliment?” Faith asked, voice somewhere between amused and insulted. She was never quite sure how to interpret Rook’s words. There was always  _ something _ that the Deputy wouldn’t outright say, something that she’d dance around, tongue doing the tango just to avoid saying what she meant. It made trying to reach out to her that much more difficult. How could she open her heart to Faith if she never found the right words?... This was a start, but Rook’s response didn’t exactly give her much hope.

“Probably. It’s not like your brothers set the bar very high, though,” Rook said. She emphasized her point with a shrug, before looking away from Faith. Oddly enough, there was a faint blush dusting her cheeks, and a certain glint in her eyes.  _ Oh _ , Faith thought, finally feeling like she had enough pieces of the puzzle to start putting it together. But she simply stayed quiet for a moment, hoping that Rook might elaborate a little (and elaborate she did). “John wants to tear the skin right off of the my flesh, Jacob is fucking with my mind like he thinks he owns it, and Joseph is pulling the strings, all while acting like he isn’t setting his family up to die,” Rook growled, body starting to shake, her hands balling into fists as she spoke. “But you?... I don’t appreciate being drugged, that’s for sure. I just prefer panicked hallucinations to unnecessary bloodshed.”

With a deep sigh, Rook moved to cradle her face in her hands, clearly trying to stop herself from crying. There was something so  _ painful _ about seeing her like this; after everything she had been through, it was amazing that she had held together for this long. But to see her break? To see someone who had walked through hell with a smile be reduced to a shaking, quivering, whimpering  _ mess _ ? It took the breath right from Faith’s lungs. It  _ hurt _ \- but she knew that healing could not come without pain. Reaching out, she gently took hold of Rook’s wrists, and tried to tug her hands away. When the Deputy didn’t budge, she only gripped tighter. With more strength than one would have expected her capable of, Faith pulled again, at last revealing Rook’s tear-stained cheeks.

“It’s alright, Deputy. You don’t have to hide your pain anymore,” Faith whispered, gently wiping the tears away. A soft smile graced her lips, even if her eyes only held concern. At first Rook didn’t respond (her eyes were red around the edges, but blank, unblinking; her lips stiff, held in a straight line, unwavering), too unsure of her own reality to try and change it. The second that Faith tried to tuck the Deputy’s hair behind her ears, however, she finally shifted. Her mouth opened and closed, mind desperately searching for words she wasn’t sure even existed. “You can say anything, Deputy. None of this is real, right? You said it yourself.”   
  
A lie, of course, but one meant to placate. To help, in a way. Except it only made the Deputy chuckle, and shake her head.

“You’re real. The rest of this shit,” Rook replied, gesturing around her at all the things that Faith couldn’t see, “isn’t real. But you are. I  _ know _ you are.” The shake in her voice made it clear that she wasn’t  _ actually _ sure. She wanted to be, wanted to be able to trust her own mind, but the circumstances made it almost impossible for her to do so. That only made the anxiety in her chest worsen.

“Is that a bad thing? We can pretend I’m not really here, if you want. It’ll be our little secret,” Faith teased, once more caressing Rook’s cheek with her thumb. At first the Deputy just gave a little hum, more in response to the touch than to what was said, her eyes even briefly closing in relaxation. When they opened again, something more playful had replaced her earlier worry. For Faith, it was equal parts exciting and concerning. She had seen firsthand what the woman could do when she had mischief on her mind. But most of that had been fueled by other non believers, not her own mind.

“Hmm… is it a bad thing?” Rook repeated, laughing a little. In a brief moment of silence, she let her arms wrap around Faith, pulling her closer until she was practically on her lap. Ignoring the herald’s little noise of surprise, she leaned forward to rest her head on the woman’s shoulder. “You tell me,” she murmured, voice muffled by the fabric of Faith’s dress. “It feels… pretty nice. Maybe nice enough to be more than a dream; but that’s just my take on it. What do you say,  _ Amiga _ ? Care to be real for a little while longer?”

Without hesitation, without a drop of doubt in her heart, without a single bit of worry in her chest, Faith nodded, and let her arms wrap around the Deputy in turn. The silence overtook them, and they did not break it. This was real, this was good, this was what the two of them had needed for so long. It was, to put it simply,  _ bliss _ .


End file.
